Chapter 4: Useful Information

(In which Sakura tries to outwit a spy, and hopes she'll have better luck next time.)

By the time Sakura got back to Konoha, she'd rationalized the whole thing into a manageable form. It was like a long-term information-gathering mission, she told herself. If she talked to him long enough, surely she'd find out something useful, something that would get them closer to Sasuke, something she could proudly present to Naruto as a welcome-home present when his training was finished. Something that would lead to the repair of Team 7. It all made sense when she thought of it like that.

It was almost a month until she got another mission that required her to travel very far. Not out of Fire Country, just to a nearby village to apprehend a minor criminal, but still...there was a chance...

She still wasn't strong enough for a fight. Sakura knew that. But that didn't mean it didn't bother the hell out of her.

Someday, she told herself. Someday, Naruto and I will bring Sasuke back together. And until that day arrived, she would keep preparing herself. Training, researching...and gathering information.

The battle with the criminal wasn't much trouble; she was a shinobi, after all, and this man was only a thug. But since she'd had to take him alive, it was of course more difficult, and she'd gotten a scratch or two. So Sakura felt that, with the criminal safely in the town's jail, she'd earned herself a good stiff drink.

Sakura tried not to get too tense as she stood outside the bar. Nothing was going to happen; she was still in Fire Country, her own territory, so to speak. Not that that had ever stopped the Sound before...

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door, and...

Nothing. The bar was nearly empty, filled only with a handful of civilians. Sakura let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Stupid of her to get so worked up...

"What a coincidence, Sakura-chan!"

Dammit! Sakura spun around, kunai in hand, cursing herself for letting him get behind her.

"Always so suspicious of me..." Kabuto said, holding up his empty hands. "I'm really not going to start anything."

"Like I'll believe that," Sakura said, but she put her kunai away. No need to cause trouble for the people of this town, especially since there were no other shinobi close by to back her up. Starting a pointless fight would be stupid.

Kabuto shrugged and walked past her. Sakura warred with herself for a moment. Part of her wanted to call in reinforcements, but the logical part of her mind knew that they'd never arrive in time. Kabuto could just flee, and would be far out of reach before any other shinobi arrived.

So she sat down next to him instead and ordered a beer. At this point, she needed one.

After a long silence, Sakura finally brought herself to say it. "How is he?"

"How is who?"

Bastard. He knew damn well who she meant. "Sasuke-kun."

Kabuto considered this for a moment. "Annoying. Never thought I'd have to babysit any of you brats again after the Chuunin exam..."

"So he's not--not hurt," Sakura said, her voice shaking. How pathetic...but she and Naruto had been worrying about Sasuke for more than six months now. Hearing that he was safe and well was a relief.

"He's a shinobi. Of course he gets hurt," Kabuto said. Sakura looked up sharply, but then he continued. "And every time he picks a fight, I have to heal him. Brat."

Sakura couldn't hold back her smile. "That's...good to hear."

"What made you think we'd hurt him after we went to so much trouble to get him in the first place?" Kabuto asked her.

Sakura shot him a glare. "Someone like you wouldn't understand."

"Of course not," Kabuto said, and Sakura was again tempted to punch him just to make him stop smirking at her for half a second. "And how are you, Sakura-chan? Training going well?"

"Why should I tell you anything?" She might be acting a little paranoid, but the less information she gave him, the better.

"Because if you don't, I won't have any reason to tell you anything."

Damn. Well...it couldn't hurt as long as she didn't say anything too specific. "It's fine. I'm fine."

"That's nice to hear, even though it's a lie."

"What did you just--it's the truth!"

Again with the smirking. "You can lie with your words, but not with your face, Sakura-chan. You need more practice."

"But I didn't lie," Sakura said, annoyed and confused. It was galling to be accused of lying by someone whose entire life was based on deceit.

"If you say so," Kabuto said, shrugging, and somehow that annoyed Sakura even more. If he was going to say something like that, then he'd damn well better explain it.

"No--what was that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"Your face tells me you aren't 'fine'. Something is troubling you. But I don't really care, so it's fine if you don't want to talk about it."

"You're not going to get information out of me that easily," Sakura said. Such an obvious attempt to get her to slip up and say something important...she hated being underestimated.

"You really are the suspicious type."

"Around you, I need to be."

"Well...I won't deny it..."

"Damn right you won't," Sakura said, taking a sip of her beer. She wanted to ask so many things--he hadn't really told her that Sasuke was all right. Did Sasuke want to return? He had to, didn't he? They had to be holding him by force...and what were they planning to do to him? The mark on his neck, that Curse Seal, had it gotten worse? But she couldn't bring herself to say anything. It would be pitiful to beg for scraps of information from the enemy.

"He really is fine," Kabuto said, interrupting her thoughts. "You don't need to worry so much."

"I didn't--"

"Your face did."

She really hated when he did that. "Just...give me a straight answer. Is he doing well?"

"Very," Kabuto said. "He spends most of his time training." Kabuto conveniently neglected to mention that Sasuke also spent his time picking fights (and getting injured in them), wandering around because he couldn't deal with his thoughts if he sat still too long, and occasionally demanding drugs to help him sleep (Kabuto suspected nightmares; whether about his brother or his former village, he wasn't sure). Telling Sakura any of this would just upset her, and Kabuto really wasn't in the mood to deal with a crying thirteen-year-old.

Sakura smiled a little. "...I'm glad." They would bring him home soon. Once Naruto got back, they would go together and bring Sasuke home, and every piece of information she could get would help. The Sound wanted Sasuke for some reason, so he would be safe until she and Naruto could find him and rescue him from them.

There was a silence while both of them drank. Sakura had a feeling she wouldn't get much more information at this point; really, she'd been fortunate just to be told that Sasuke was healthy. But there would be a next time, and eventually, she would get a location. Even the smallest details could help narrow down the possibilities; something as simple as the weather could suggest what region they were hiding in.

"There's an escort mission coming up," Sakura said abruptly. "In three weeks. I'll probably take it. It's out on the edge of Wave Country...I might go see how Tazuna-san is doing. See the bridge." She tried to make it sound casual, just a bit of a smalltalk, so that it wouldn't be her doing if they just happened to run into each other again. And anyway, telling him herself was probably better than being stalked.

"Have fun with that, Sakura-chan."

"I'm sure I will," she said, and didn't bother saying goodbye.